


The Origin of Rose's Fountain

by Chromite



Series: Tales of the Rebellion [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Missions, Other, Rebellion, gem cracking, mention of Amethysts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 07:36:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18331550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromite/pseuds/Chromite
Summary: In the early days of the rebellion, a mission goes wrong, leaving one Rebel Gem cracked.





	The Origin of Rose's Fountain

>It was the early days of the rebellion, the rebel forces were still small, a mere six gems, seven if you counted Garnet as two. Garnet, Pearl, Rose Quartz, a Lapis Lazuli, a Biggs Jasper, and a Bismuth. The gems were close to each other, laughing and enjoying themselves when they weren't on a mission to thwart the colonization efforts of the sinister Pink Diamond. Rose's healing tears were discovered during the first few missions, they had proven invaluable to keeping the small band alive.  
>The gems had split into three different missions.Garnet and the Bismuth were infiltrating a communications base. Pearl and Rose were going to try and steal raw materials from a supply area hosted on Earth.  
>The Lapis Lazuli and the Biggs Jasper had been sent to the Kindergarten alone, to disrupt the injection process and report back immediately. A stalling tactic, but one that would send a loud message to the gems on Earth.   
>It was suppose to be a quick and easy mission. The pair didn't expect an Amethyst patrol in the section they had targeted. The Lapis had acted swiftly, she had picked Biggs up in her arms, flying them off the ground and out of the attack range of the Amethysts.  
>That's what she had believed. One of the Amethysts had a nasty surprise. She reached into her forehead gem and pulled out a bow, took aim, and shot at the pair of fleeing gems.  
>The Lapis yelled out in pain as the arrow hit the gem located on her left shoulder. Her form flickered as cracks formed on it, widening as she fought to hold herself in the air. She picked up her flying speed, pushing herself to her limits to get herself and Biggs away from the Amethyst squad.   
>Her wings gave out a short distance from the agreed upon meeting place, her form flickering violently as the pair began to drop from the sky. Biggs wrapped herself around the Lapis as she braced for impact with the ground. The pair landed with a loud thwack.  
>Biggs uncurled herself from around the Lapis, standing up swiftly and picking the Lapis up off of the ground. Her face twisted in horror as she looked at the widening cracks on the Lapis's gem.  
>"Hold on Lapis, please. Rose will be back soon! She can heal you! Just please, hold on"  
>The Lapis coughed loudly as the cracks on her gem widened again, her form glitching more violently. She brought her left hand up to Bigg's face, touching her cheek gently. "I'm sorry Biggs. I don't think.....I can hold on until Rose gets here. Please, survive this rebellion, make sure you win, free gemkind from the rule of the Diamonds." She let out a short cry as her form glitched violently again. She was breathing heavily now "If you can do that for me.....my breaking will have been worth it. Tell the others....I'm sorry."  
>The Lapis screamed in agony, then her form dissipated in a large puff of bluish smoke, leaving her gemstone hovering in midair for a moment. Biggs reached out to catch it.  
>She never got the chance. The cracks on her gem expanded one more time. It was too much. The Lapis's gem broke apart, a small explosion sent Biggs flying back a short distance. Shards of the Lapis rained down on the place the pair had been moments before.  
>"No. Nonononono!" Biggs rushed over to the spot, tears running down her face. She scooped the shards into her shaking hands."Lapis, no! Please don't leave me! You can't be gone!" Biggs held the shards close to herself, choking and sobbing as she sunk to her knees.   
>She sat there for a few minutes before she heard a voice, smooth and graceful, call out to her. "Biggs? What's wrong? Where is Lapis?"  
>Biggs turned to see Rose and Pearl arrive at the camp, their arms filled with metals and wires, their mission had been a success.  
>"ROSE!!!" Biggs cried out, rising to her feet and rushing over to her, tears still streaming down her face. "Please, please! You have to heal her, you have to bring her back!"  
>"What do you......no, it can't be." Rose's face fell as Biggs opened her hands to reveal the shards of the Lapis. Pearl gasped as she caught sight of the shards herself.  
>"Rose......do you think your tears will.......work on damage this extensive?" Pearl whispered.  
>"I.....I don't know. I hope they do." Rose took the shards out of Bigg's hands. "Please, let this work." She whispered as tears fell out of her eyes and onto the shards in her hand.   
>The trio's hearts sank when there was no reaction from the shards. Biggs sank to her knees again. "She's really gone? Why? Why did this have to happen?"  
>Rose gritted her teeth. "Not yet. Not yet!"   
>"Pearl looked at Rose, a worried expression on her face. "Rose, what do you-"  
>Rose cut her off as she spoke, an irritated tone in Rose's voice "Pearl, Biggs, I need you two to stay here, please. There is something I want to try, but I don't want either of you to see it in case......it doesn't work. I will return shortly, hopefully with good news."  
>Rose rushed off into the distance, leaving Pearl there to console a crying Biggs.  
>Rose waited until she was well out of sight of the pair before her form began to shift, growing larger, stronger, her gem rotating back to it's natural position.   
>Pink Diamond continued to hurry, shards still in her hand, to the nearest warp. The gems, her gems, who were standing guard looked on in bewilderment as she warped back to her base.  
>"Please let this work" she whispered as she breathed on the gems, secreting her pure Diamond essence into her hands, and applying an intense pressure to the shards.  
>She opened her hands, revealing a slightly uneven blue stone, but otherwise intact. Pink Diamond's eyes widened as the gem glowed, and began to take form.  
>Her wonder turned to terror as the form began to twist and distort into a mangled ball of blue limbs.   
>The mass fell to the floor. A mouth opened up at the end of one of the feet and on one of the hands, both screaming in unison, a haunting tune of pure agony filled the Moon Base.  
>Grimacing, Pink Diamond reached down and swiftly dissipated the abomination she had created. Tears flowed down her face as she held the gem in her hands, and whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."  
>A shining pink bubble formed around the gem. Pink Diamond stared at the bubble for a bit, her face twisting from sadness into determination.   
>"Never again. This will never happen again." She thought to herself as she warped back out of her moon base, arriving at a secret warp, far from any gem activity, inside of a cave. She released the bubble, allowing it to float up to the ceiling of the cave. She shifted back into her Rose Quartz form and made her way back to the rebel camp, Garnet and Bismuth had arrived back. The looks on their faces told Rose that they knew.  
>"It didn't work. I couldn't save her. Bismuth, I need a favor."  
>"What is it Rose?" she asked, a hint of sadness in her voice, mixed with curiosity.  
>"I need you to design a fountain, one that can house a lot of liquids. This fountain will hold my healing tears in it. If any other gem is cracked and I'm not.......a place for gems to go to get healed if I'm on a mission is a must going forward. Will you do it, please?"  
>Bismuth bowed her head. "It would be an honor, Rose."  
>The group of five began to design the fountain and plan a place to build it, determination in their gems to never again lose a companion if it could be avoided.  
\---------  
>Unknown to Rose, her stunt in the Moon Base had caught someone's attention.   
>Yellow Diamond looked down at her Pearl. "Pink did what?"  
>"I told you, my Diamond, she took the shards of a gem, pressed them together, and created something! Here, look at the recording!" Yellow Pearl passed the screen to her Diamond.  
>Yellow watched the silent footage intensely. "Well well, looks like Pink had a sadistic streak after all. She might make a fine Diamond yet. Pearl, send word to the shattering stations on Homeworld. The shards from the next hundred gems are to be sent to me instead of being used as power sources."  
>"Yes my Diamond!" Yellow Pearl rushed over to the console to relay her Diamond's orders.  
>Yellow Diamond smiled to herself. "Thanks for the inspiration, Pink."

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes stories can't have happy endings. I knew I needed to write Rose trying to save the first shattered gem in the rebellion. 
> 
> Throwing out the idea that Pink Diamond somehow inspired Yellow Diamond's cluster experiments was cruel icing upon the agony cake.


End file.
